The descanso (rest) is a mapuche funeral ritual that takes part after the wake. It is the result of a complex ritualism that materializes with the erection of a wooden cross by the side of a tree, within the boundaries of the dead person’s property, at the first stop of the coffin after leaving the house. It is common to build small constructions similar to a house at the descanso’s site. In this work, this little-known ritual is described based on the existing literature and on our findings in the fieldwork the we have conducted since April 2010 among four mapuche huilliche communities from Lago Neltume and Punahue, Panguipulli foothills, Región de los Ríos, Chile.